Membership has these privileges: Owner Howard Waldstreicher, a lifelong tennis player and NSCA-certified trainer, has taken working out with bands in a different direction. He’s been personal trainer for Serena Williams, who won the French Open title on Saturday, and pros Melanie Oudin and Bob and Mike Bryan, and his HalfHourPower method is sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association. He claims that his method — which reduces most workouts to about a half hour and focuses primarily on strengthening from a standing position, building quick reflexes, and rotating and reacting from your core — works because, “That’s mostly how you live, compete and play.”

Class I tried: The 12:30-1:15 p.m. Friday PowerBandYoga class with instructor Ashley Daidone. The yoga class uses fitness bands of varying resistance levels attached to the wall at different heights, which during yoga assists class participants with their alignment. The point, to some extent, is to take the place of having the instructor come around constantly fixing everyone’s posture, and it does work. At times, the class was slightly more challenging than a basic yoga class, and overall, I liked the use of the bands for some of the harder poses where having the reminder of proper hip placement and some support — such as tree pose — made it easier to concentrate on good form. I could see where it might take a few sessions to figure out exactly where to put the bands — mine sometimes rolled up my hips, and during downward dog, actually cut off my circulation, forcing me to keep moving around to fix it. When it came time for the easier and more familiar poses, though, I wanted to take the bands off.

This club is for: Anyone looking for a focused, band-based workout, but particularly serious athletes, weekend warriors and older exercisers looking for high-intensity workouts that are easier on your joints and quickly build your core.

Know before you go: This is not an open gym but rather a one-room studio that rotates small-group (no more than 8 at a time) classes — the HalfHourPower, the PowerBandCore and the PowerBandYoga — from 5:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. weekdays and two early-morning classes on weekends. According to Waldstreicher, you need only two 30-minute sessions a week.

Amenities: A handful of cubbies, a restroom and water fountains; yoga mats are provided, as well. There is parking in the back, but it can fill up during peak meal and shopping times.

The bottom line: If you’re a person who likes a lot of variety in your workouts, you might want to try this a few times first. Of course, if you only have to do it twice a week…

The real bottom line: An introductory class is free, and you can drop in for $20. Unlimited per month costs $150, six months unlimited $800, and an annual membership is $1,500.

The nice thing about Dutch ovens is that their iron is of one weave, so to speak, with nothing but metal all around, over and above, whatever’s cooking in them. So hot coals on their noggins is a no-never-mind.

The annual hop harvest is just around the corner in Washington state’s Yakima Valley, the agricultural area where 75 percent of America’s hops are grown, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.